The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the present invention. The subject matter discussed in the background of the invention section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background of the invention section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background of the invention section or associated with the subject matter of the background of the invention section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background of the invention section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in the background of the invention section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.
The growing interest in organs-on-chips, also known as tissue chips and in vitro organ constructs, is driven in part by the recognition that two-dimensional biology-on-plastic using immortal cell lines does not adequately recapitulate human physiology, particularly the details of the response of the cells to drugs and toxins. A large number of in vitro organ-on-chip models have been developed, ranging from planar co-culture models of cellular endothelial-epithelial interfaces to three dimensional (3D) tissue-equivalent models of the human brain neurovascular unit. However, it is a challenge to have a non-destructive system and method for efficiently and accurately measuring, in a longitudinal fashion, the tension force within a tissue construct and the response of the construct to the application of additional tension.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.